Rarely do before-and-after business cases present such a neat study in contrasts. Compare the recent actions of the key players in the food industry with those of the tobacco industry two decades earlier.

In the 1980s, executives at Philip Morris were still fighting energetically to hold back the tide of evidence that cigarettes cause lung cancer, and claiming that customers were exercising free will in choosing to smoke.

“There’s a misconception that great leaders are born, or that talented professionals can decide to be leaders and, overnight, step into the role with grace and excellence. Of course, the tenets of great leadership can occasionally be stumbled upon, but for the rest of us, leadership demands hard work and constant refinement.

Some of the characteristics of great leaders are easy to identify, and most emerging leaders are aware of them enough to actively work toward them — traits such as respect and authority. But there’s one particular characteristic that commonly gets overlooked, and it’s critically important if you want to build trust and camaraderie within your team: transparency.”